CENTER FOR RURAL REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Message from the Director
 
Welcome to the Center for Rural Regional Development and Governance (CRRDG), a major public service and community outreach program of SUNY Fredonia.
 
Since its founding in 1997, the Center has been a major catalyst for regional collaboration, governance innovations, community outreach and economic development.

Our purpose is to engage the intellectual and analytical human resources of the SUNY Fredonia to enhance our region's governance and development capacity. Specifically, the Center undertakes studies to provide blueprints for regional governance and development actions as well as provides direct technical and strategic assistance to local government officials desiring to embark upon intermunicipal efforts.
 
Over the past nine years, the Center has been involved in over 25 regional studies and consultations involving several SUNY Fredonia CRRDG faculty fellows and receiving grants that total in the millions of dollars. The Center has been the major facilitator for the Chadwick Bay Champion Community; the City of Jamestown Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission; and the Chautauqua Shared Services Committee. Major studies include Regional Policing; development of a comprehensive web based demographic base for local governments; youth center feasibility study for City of Dunkirk; G.I.S. studies of the Cherry Creek dredge, and boundaries for the N. Chautauqua County Empire Zone; performance based government in Chautauqua County and City of Jamestown (adopted); development of a Chadwick Bay regional water commission; a regional approach to funding of Jamestown Community College (adopted); and an analysis of a payment in lieu of taxes project for NRG in Dunkirk (adopted).

The enhancing community and economic development capacities and the promotion of regional shared services have been a focus of recent Center projects. The Center is the recent recipient of a HUD Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) grant for the development of a partnership between SUNY Fredonia and the City of Dunkirk. This SUNY Fredonia/Dunkirk Community Partnerships program has as its goals to:

• Enhance the leadership and organizational capacity of Dunkirk's neighborhoods and celebrate the diversity of the community through involvement of faith-based organizations
• Boost the educational achievement and civic engagement of neighborhood youth
• Increase workforce preparation of residents and increase economic development
• Improve the health of residents through accessible preventive care

The Center is also the coordinator of a planned new SUNY Fredonia High Tech Incubator that has received $4.7 million in construction funding from New York State and $604,000 in start-up operating funds for the next two years from NYSTAR. This incubator will provide flexible space designed to meet the needs of new start-up businesses and provide a rich array of business support services.

Our Regional Intermunicipal Services project seeks to:

• To increase public and governmental awareness of ongoing successful, intermunicipal cooperation and consolidation best practices by conducting public forums throughout western New York which will present those intermunicipal successes
• To energize local officials throughout western New York to plan intermunicipal projects in their locale which could make use of currently available local, state and federal resources to accomplish their goals
• To provide technical and strategic assistance to local government officials desiring to embark upon intermunicipal efforts.

We welcome your interest and involvement as the Center strives to make our region a better place in which to live, work, and grow.